After an exciting NCAA Tournament women’s final on Sunday during which Dawn Staley’s South Carolina Gamecocks put the finishing touches on an undefeated season with an 87-75 victory over the Caitlin Clark-led Iowa Hawkeyes, the men get their turn to take center stage on Monday night. The reigning champion University of Connecticut Huskies (36-3) will take on the Purdue University Boilermakers (34-4) in a clash highlighted by two NBA-caliber centers.
The 7-foot-2 UConn sophomore big man Donovan Clingan and 7-foot-4 Boilermakers senior center Zach Edey both appear to be shoo-in first round draft picks this summer, while Clingan should hear his name called in the lottery. Clingan is now seen as the third-best prospect among this year’s class (he’s mocked to the Charlotte Hornets), per Jeremy Woo and Jonathan Givony of ESPN’s latest mock draft.
Edey is a consensus two-time All-American, a two-time Associated Press Player of the Year, and the winner of the Naismith Award and Wooden Trophy, but Clingan is the starrier prospect. Clingan, the less-polished of the two bigs, is seen as a better potential NBA player thanks to his athletic upside. Through 38 bouts this year, Edey is averaging 24.9 points on 62.5% shooting from the field and 71.1% free throw shooting, 12.2 rebounds, 2.2 blocks, and 2.1 assists per game. Across 34 contests this season (32 starts), Clingan is averaging 13.1 points on 64% shooting from the field, 7.4 rebounds, 2.5 blocks, 1.5 assists and 0.5 steals a night.
Here’s how and where you can tune in, plus gambling odds and our prediction for Monday night’s game.
Getty Images/Dylan Buell
How To Watch UConn vs Purdue
The matchup is slated to tip off at 6:20 p.m. PT/9:20 p.m. ET on TBS.
Betting Odds
According to sportsbook aggregator The Action Network, the Huskies are seen as 7-point favorites tonight. The Huskies have gone 4-1 against the spread across their last five games, all of which they’ve won. The over/under line for combined score in tonight’s game has been set at 145.5.
UConn vs Purdue Prediction
Edey has been, by far, the best player in the men’s college game this season. The Huskies may be favorites, especially thanks to the ascent of Clingan, but sometimes championship games like this come down to the most dominant player on the floor getting the job done, and tonight that will be Edey.
To be fair, we saw just yesterday that basketball does remain a team game, as the best individual player in Clark was defeated by the deeper club in the Gamecocks. Boilermakers sharpshooters Braden Smith (a 43% three point shooter on 3.4 attempts), Fletcher Loyer (a 44.7% three point shooter on 3.7 tries), Mason Gillis (a 47.2% long range sniper on 3.2 triple looks a night) and Lance Jones (a 35.9% three point gunner at 5.9 attempts per) can all light it up from deep. Those players’ presence should force Connecticut to stay home on the perimeter, meaning it will oftentimes be all Clingan defending Edey. Look for Purdue to snag the upset and avenge last year’s loss to the 16-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.